Can I really be too late?
by lileigh760
Summary: Craig finally realizes who he's meant to be with but will he be too late?


**Hey everyone. I am on another website called and I was in an FF writing competition. I decided to put them on here as a one shot. This one is called "Can I really be too late"? It's a Crellie kind of. I hope you like it. Not too much detail because it has to be a one shot. Love**

**Adrienne

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**Craig's Point of View**

It felt so weird being back home. I know I wasn't gone that long. Just a few months but it feels like so long. It seems as though the farther along my music career got the worse my relationship with Manny became. I love her. I know I do. It's just so difficult. I'm off touring and making a name for myself and I have all these girls throwing themselves at me. I never do anything with them though. I learned my lesson. No more cheating for me. In the end I'm the one that always ends up getting hurt. Funny that I have all of these girls throwing themselves at me, I have a great beautiful girlfriend that most guys would kill for but the one person I can't get my mind off of is the girl that fades into the background. The girl that surrounds herself with guys, likes to see the positive of a negative situation. The same girl that told me to follow my heart and to give my music a chance. If it hadn't been for her then I wouldn't even be here.

I sit here in Joey's living room. It's been a long day. I'm only here for 3 days one of which I've spent traveling here and seeing Manny. It just feels like I'm running out of time but I don't know what I'm running out of time for? I walk into my room and see all the pictures I have on my walls. There's one of Manny and I at dinner. Neither of us are smiling we just look so unhappy. There's another picture of the band Ellie's twirling the drumsticks in her hands and I'm making my rockstar face. We look like we're having so much fun. I set my bags down on the floor and lay on my bed. The second my head hits the pillow I'm asleep.

I woke up the next morning and looked outside. It was a beautiful winters day. The sun was fighting to come up behind the snow filled mountain tops. The trees were slightly rustling with freshly fallen snow clinging to the pines. I breathed in the thin Toronto air. This was home. This is what I'd been missing everyday since I'd left.

I take my shower and get ready for the day. Everyone is having lunch at the dot. I can't wait to see them. Ellie, Marco, Manny of course. Jimmy. I missed them all so much. I'd seen Manny briefly the day before. She'd come with Joey to pick me up at the airport but she'd been acting kind of funny. It wasn't anything too noticeable but I know her too well. She was just distant. Kind of cold. It made it easier on me though. I could just take in the scenery.

I walk into the dot and see Jimmy and Marco sitting next to each other laughing about something that Jimmy had drawn the night before. Manny is sitting by herself talking on her cell phone. When she sees me walk in she quickly shuts it off and puts a smile on her face. She walks over and kisses me on the cheek. Even her lips feel cold to the touch. Marco jumps up and gives me a hug. I walk over to Jimmy and bend down to hug him.

I look around for the familiar face that had haunted my dreams every day since I'd left but she wasn't there. I sat down and began to talk to everyone about what I'd been up to the last few months. My music was really taking off but I still missed my friends. Jimmy and Marco hung around for a couple of hours but Marco had a date with Dylan and Jimmy had an art show to go to so they were getting ready to leave. I try and ask nonchalantly where Ellie was. I think Marco caught on but Manny and Jimmy just continued chatting uninterestedly. Marco just looks at me and says "I don't know. She was supposed to be here. Maybe she forgot". I smile and say "Oh, Thanks".

Manny scoots her chair over after Jimmy and Marco leave. She puts her head on my shoulder and I can hear her tearing up and sniffling. "What happened to us Craig"?

I glanced down at her "What do you mean"?

She looked up at me and stated "you know exactly what I mean. I used to love you so much. I mean I was so in love. Now I don't have those butterflies when you look at me. I don't get excited when you come home. I'm scared".

"I'm happy that you were brave enough to say something Manny. I mean I love you..i'm just"

"Not in love with you". She finished my sentence for me. I smiled. I had loved her with all my heart at one point in time but I couldn't be fair to her when my heart belonged to someone else. We stayed there for awhile. Just enjoying each other's presence. She told me she'd met someone and I was happy for her. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't a little jealous but she deserved someone who was crazy about her. I made excuses and told her that I'd see her later. I just needed to clear my head.

I was walking around downtown thinking when my cell phone started to ring. I glanced down at the caller ID and it was Marco. "Hey Marco, miss me already"? I jokingly replied into the phone. All I heard was a silence and then there was crying in the back round. "Marco are you alright"?

I heard sniffling and then finally Marco spoke "It's Ellie Craig".

With that one sentence my whole world had been sent reeling. Ellie? What was Ellie?

"What"? "What happened Marco"?

Again silence "She was in a car accident on her way to lunch". Her car skidded on some ice. It doesn't look good. I'm so sorry".

I hung up my phone and fell to my knees. So close. I was so close to telling her what I felt and then this happened? I sat on the sidewalk and sobbed to myself trying to mend my broken heart to no avail.


End file.
